Nick pushes his way out of the packed elevator, clinging to his bags, conscious of the wine bottles inside one of them. He makes his way along the corridor, shifting the bags from hand to hand until he manages to fish his keys out of his pocket and get through the door into his apartment. He lets the door close behind him and puts the bags down at his feet. Nick smiles as the two songs playing click off one after the other, and, almost simultaneously, Jeff and Blaine's heads peek out from their bedrooms. Nick opens his arms.
"You're home!" Jeff practically throws himself into the waiting hug, wrapping his arms around Nick's middle. Blaine follows behind, hovering a little hesitantly before Nick pulls him in too.
"You missed me, then?" Nick laughs as Jeff and Blaine break away from him.
"We always miss you when you're not around," Jeff says, and Blaine nods alongside him.
Nick smiles at them both, then picks up a small paper bag and heads into the living room. Jeff follows immediately, but Blaine stays behind, reaching for the rest of Nick's bags.
"I'll just put these –"
"You can get them later, Baby, come on," Nick calls from the living room, flopping down onto the sofa. "Oh, it's good to be home," he sighs, smiling.
Nick waits for both the boys to settle on the floor - Jeff kneeling, Blaine with his legs crossed, both of them with their palms resting on their thighs, before picking up the paper bag again.
"Jeff, this is for you."
Nick hands Jeff a small, tissue-wrapped parcel, watching as he opens it quickly.
"'Gorgeous.'" Jeff reads aloud from the silver tag in his hands, flipping it over to read out Nick's name and their address on the other side. "Blaine, look!" Jeff laughs excitedly, holding his hand out, the heart glinting in the light. "I have a new tag!"
Blaine nods, smiling a little. Nick watches him for a second before leaning down to accept a slow kiss from Jeff, biting on his bottom lip gently. When they pull apart, Blaine's on his feet.
"I'll go and put those bags away now," he says quietly.
"But you didn't get your present yet, Baby." Nick smiles.
"You got me a present too, Sir?"
"Of course I did, Baby." Nick kisses Jeff's forehead, then stands, picking up the other parcel and walking over to Blaine. "Close your eyes."
Blaine does as he's told and Nick steps close, unwrapping the collar from its paper and fastening it around Blaine's neck. He slips two fingers under the dark blue leather, testing the fit before tightening it one more notch.
"Open, Baby."
Blaine opens his mouth, causing Nick to laugh softly before he presses a kiss to Blaine's top lip.
"Your eyes, silly."
Blaine opens his eyes, blushing, and glances at Jeff before meeting Nick's gaze.
"Thank you, Sir."
"You're welcome, Baby. Now you have something to show that you will always be part of this family, ok? Always."
Nick scratches gently at the nape of Jeff's neck, smiling as he squirms.
"Pup's happy?"
Jeff nods, looking up at Nick with a grin before kissing the inside of his knee. He's kneeling between Nick's spread legs, resting back against the leather seat of the arm-chair Nick managed to procure them before the club had gotten too busy. Nick toys idly with one of the rings on Jeff's collar, planning a playdate with Rachel for later in the week, letting Jeff relax a little. It's only when Jeff nudges him gently that Nick snaps out of his thoughts.
"Speak if you need to, Gorgeous..."
"May I go to the bathroom?" Jeff asks, biting his lip.
"Can you go on your own, or do you want me to come with you?" Nick asks, helping Jeff up.
"I can go alone, Sir."
"Good boy."
Jeff kisses his cheek and pads off toward the bathroom. Nick smiles, watching him walk, ass swinging from side to side, outlined through the tight black briefs Nick puts him in when they come here. Nick pulls his phone from his pocket, flicking through his messages to pass the time until Jeff gets back. After a few minutes, there's a cough from in front of him. Nick doesn't look up just spreads his legs a little so that Jeff can sit back down. There's another cough.
"Blaine?!"
Nick almost drops his phone, head snapping up to stare at Jeff and Blaine. Jeff's gaping at Blaine with his mouth wide open. Nick puts his phone away, and then smiles.
"You'll catch flies like that, Gorgeous. Heel."
Jeff looks over at Nick, and then back at Blaine. He returns to his spot between Nick's legs, but keeps his head down, smiling gratefully as Nick strokes through his hair. Blaine shifts from foot to foot, watching them.
"Blaine," Nick says. "It's been a long time... grab a seat, we'll catch up." He nods towards the empty chair opposite him, smiling.
Blaine wets his bottom lip, looking at the chair.
"I'd rather..." He trails off, and then, after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, sits down on the floor, crossing his legs.
Nick raises his eyebrows. Blaine looks very out of place in his simple T-shirt and jeans, somehow both over- and under-dressed at the same time.
"How are you?" They both ask at the same time.
Nick gestures for Blaine to speak, and then sits back in his chair, smiling when Jeff leans into his thigh.
"How are you? How've you been?" Blaine asks again, obviously trying not to stare at Jeff's half-naked body, eyes flicking down from Nick's face, before looking back up guiltily.
"We've been well, haven't we, Gorgeous?" Nick scratches at Jeff's scalp gently, watching Blaine's face for a reaction. "Finished school, moved in together, moved here together... nothing eventful."
"But... you're... how did you end up here?" Blaine says slowly, openly gazing at Jeff's wriggling body.
"It's just the way our relationship went." Nick shrugs. He musses Jeff's hair a final time before leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Why are you here, Blaine? No Kurt to accompany you?"
Blaine tenses at Kurt's name and looks down at his lap.
"Kurt and I didn't last," he mumbles. "I... I was looking for someone new, here, and... I almost didn't recognise you in... wearing that..."
Nick looks down at his leather jeans and the crimson vest stretched taut over his chest. Jeff's playing with the laces of his boots again and he leans down to swat his hand away.
"Stop it, I told you before," he says sternly.
"Sorry, Sir." Jeff drops his hand back into his lap and looks over at Blaine, smiling slightly.
Blaine regards them a little cautiously.
"What are you looking for, Blaine?" Nick asks. "A Dom? A boyfriend? A playmate?"
"Friends."
"Well, we've always been that." Nick smiles, standing up and stepping over Jeff before helping him up. "Get dressed, we're going," he orders before kissing Jeff deeply, tongues twisting over one another obviously between parted lips.
Blaine stares.
Nick slaps Jeff on the ass as he walks away, before turning back to Blaine.
"Do you want to get a drink with us?"
Blaine smiles, dragging his fingers over the collar, closing his eyes again as Nick kisses him. Blaine's arms move up around Nick's neck as Nick deepens the kiss, sucking Blaine's tongue into his mouth and grazing his teeth over it. Blaine whimpers softly, shivering under Nick's hands. Nick tugs Blaine's bottom lip as he pulls back, grinning.
"Now you can put those bags away," Nick laughs, kissing Blaine's nose. "Gorgeous, you order something for dinner, I'm going to take a shower. All good?"
Nick strips off on the way to the bathroom, picking up his clothes along the way and dumping them into the laundry hamper. He steps into the shower, washing leisurely, taking his time to get the feeling of travelling off his skin. He decides not to shave, pulling on a pair of pyjama shorts and a T-shirt and heading back into the living room, towelling his hair dry.
Jeff and Blaine are sitting together on the futon on the floor the sofa, watching television. The buzz of the extractor fan from the kitchen tells him that there's something keeping warm in the oven. Glancing at the clock on the wall above the television, he realises that he was in the shower for forty-five minutes.
"Will dinner keep a little longer?" Nick asks, climbing over the back of the sofa to settle on the cushions behind them.
"Not much longer, Sir... the sauce will go all gloopy and weird..." Jeff says smiling a little apologetically. "The Chinese place was really quick to deliver..."
Nick laughs, kissing the top of Jeff's head.
"I'll postpone my plans then, and we'll eat."
They end up eating around the table in the kitchen, something they haven't done in a long time. It's easier for them to talk this way, passing the containers of food around until they've all eaten as much as they can. Blaine leans across to kiss a dot of sauce from Jeff's chin, interrupting Jeff's story about work, and after a moment of silence they kiss properly. Blaine's hands push in to Jeff's hair, fisting just hard enough to make Jeff gasp into his mouth. Nick raises his eyebrows and coughs pointedly.
"So, you had a good time without me, then?" Nick laughs as they part, Jeff's bottom lip swollen already.
"Y-yeah..." Jeff says, a little breathless. "We even made cookies one – FORTUNE COOKIES!"
Jeff slips off his chair and hurries back over to the bag the food had come in, returning with three fortune cookies and handing them out. Blaine breaks his first.
"'Never regret anything that made you smile.'" Blaine's hand goes to his collar. "I never would."
"'Life is a verb.'" Jeff frowns. "No it isn't... I always get the vague ones..."
Nick laughs, smiling at Jeff sympathetically as Blaine starts to clear the plates away. Blaine returns with a pot of tea for them all, setting the mugs and the milk out.
"You didn't read yours yet, Sir!" Jeff pushes the last fortune cookie toward Nick, grinning.
Nick rolls his eyes, taking it and breaking it open, extracting the piece of paper carefully.
"'A tall, dark, stranger will enter your life and bring change that might not be wanted.'" Nick reads slowly.
"How did that all fit on that little bit of paper?!" Jeff laughs.
Nick shrugs, reading it over again. He's not a superstitious person, but it still makes him feel uncomfortable.
"The last dark stranger that entered my life wasn't exactly tall..." Nick smiles over at Blaine, trying to rid himself of the unease that's settled over him.
Blaine smiles back a little half-heartedly, cradling his mug of tea against his chest.
Blaine cradles his beer, sitting across from them in the bar just around the corner from the club. Jeff's straw rattles around the bottom of his vodka and lemonade and he pushes his glass away onto the table. Nick smiles, tightening his arm around Jeff's middle to pull him a little closer, stroking circles onto his hip. Jeff shivers and Nick smiles wider.
"So, Blaine. How have things been?" Nick asks, sipping his glass of water. "We've barely seen you since high school."
"I... finished school, moved in with Kurt..." He swigs from his beer, chewing his bottom lip.
Nick takes his hand across the table, smiling at him reassuringly. Blaine smiles back, taking another drink before speaking again.
"I couldn't get enough work as a musician to help pay for much and... well, Kurt ended it between us. I moved in with a friend and..." he shrugs, "ended up here."
Nick nods.
"Were you and Kurt like us?" Nick says, smiling slightly as Jeff rests his head on Nick's shoulder.
"Not... not so much... we played like that, sometimes but..." Blaine shakes his head. "It wasn't a lifestyle."
"You wanted it to be," Jeff states.
Nick looks down at him in surprise. Jeff's allowed to talk when he wants to, as long as they're not in the club, or Nick hasn't set a rule for play, but he often just stays quiet when they're in public together. Nick looks back at Blaine, who nods.
"Yeah..."
Around them, barstaff have started stacking chairs on tables noisily.
"I think they want us to go," Nick laughs, standing and pulling on his jacket before helping Jeff up. "It's late, we should probably head home anyway."
Blaine finishes his beer in one, and then picks up his hoodie and follows them out of the door. The barmaid locks it behind them. Nick helps Jeff into his coat and takes his hand.
"We want to see you again, if you'd like?" Nick says, holding out a business card. "It's got my number on it, so you can call, but we're in the club most weekends."
"And Fridays," Jeff adds.
"And Fridays."
Blaine takes the card, eyes widening.
"You're an architect?!"
"Man's gotta earn a living." Nick grins. "How'd you think I keep him happy with treats?"
Jeff laughs softly, curling closer to Nick against the cold.
"Call me, ok, Blaine?"
Blaine looks down again at the card in his hand.
"I will. Just for drinks."
"More, if you wanted. As long as this gorgeous pup doesn't mind."
Blaine nods, then bids them goodbye and hails a taxi, disappearing off into the night. Nick and Jeff do the same, collapsing into bed when they get home. It's much later than Nick thought, and sudden tiredness overwhelms him the moment he's got his clothes off and is under the covers.
The three of them tumble onto Nick's bed, legs tangling as they pull the sheets up over them. Jeff presses up behind Nick, spooning against him, kissing and licking over Nick's neck.
"Mm, Gorgeous... m'tired..." Nick mumbles, shifting slightly. "Tomorrow, ok..."
Jeff nods in agreement against his skin before rolling off and stretching out on his back, wriggling into the pillows. Blaine slips closer to Nick, wrapping his arm around Nick's middle and resting his head on Nick's chest. Nick puts his arm over Blaine's shoulders, stroking through his hair, the other up above his head, mirroring Jeff's position next to him. His fingers brush over Blaine's collar gently.
"Happy, Baby?"
"Uh-huh..." Blaine says sleepily, kissing Nick's bare chest before drifting off to sleep.
Nick smiles, turning his head to say goodnight to Jeff. He laughs when he sees Jeff is already asleep, snoring lightly. Nick leans across to kiss his forehead and then Blaine's before getting comfortable and closing his eyes. He falls asleep easily, warm and comfortable, happy to be back in bed with his boys.